Turning the Tide
by Workaholic Praxian
Summary: Just as the sun and moon effect the tide, events and decisions effect the overall progression of the war.


**Disclaimer: Don't own Transformers**

Turning the Tide

Chapter 1: The Fall of Praxus

* * *

**Author's Note: I've been working on this for quite some time now and of course, it kept getting bigger and bigger. I was tempted to post it as a oneshot, but I have other story lines planned that are going to branch out from this monstrosity.**

**Warning: Death, gruesome scenes of death and dying, broken bonds, sea of angst and cursing.**

* * *

Smokescreen opened an optic, meeting the gaze of one of his coworkers who had entered without knocking first, still sprawled out on one of his couches. "What is it?"

"Flutterwing called and canceled your appointment." The blue Praxian paused, taking in the current state of the office. "Were you sleeping?"

Smokescreen closed his optic, settling down into yet another comfortable position, intending on snoozing for a little while longer. "What difference does it make? This is my office and I don't have any appointments for another two joors." Smokescreen yawned, "Sky, relax, take a nap. It'll do you good. I'll even let you use my other couch."

Sky hesitated, "I really shouldn't. Someone might call."

"All the more reason for you to stay."

* * *

: _Decepticon sighting in the northern sector._ :

: _Unidentified air carriers entering the southern sector_. :

: _Requesting bomb squad in the eastern sector_. :

: _Decepticon troops in the western sector_. :

: _Decepticons fully armed and coming from all sides._ :

_: Initiating Emergency Plan Alpha. Get into position and wait for my signal. _: A black and white enforcer led his group into position, acid pellet gun in hand as he impatiently waited for the required time to pass. : _Is everyone in position?_ :

He got a chorus of affirmatives.

: _Decepticons are attacking civilians._ :

: _Seekers dropping something in the school district_. :

: _Sound the alarms._ : The calm voice ordered over the enforcer communication comm line. : _Neutralize all threats and protect the civilians._ :

The alarms sounded only moments before the first bombs went off.

* * *

Bluestreak hummed softly to himself as he descended into the basement. Not many knew what was down in the storage room, but he was there when much of the stuff was moved in and so he knew it more intimately than anyone else.

"Narrow black tubing." Bluestreak murmured to himself, double-checking with a datapad to make sure before heading in the direction to where he had organized the tubing. "Gotcha." He snagged a handful and slipped them into his subspace before looking for the next item on the list.

"Super glue." Bluestreak muttered, wondering why they needed it in the first place.

Last time it was requested, one of the math teachers, Derivative, ended up with his aft stuck to a desk chair. Integral was upset that Derivative didn't show up for lunch and had searched everywhere for the teacher who was adamant about solving his problem by himself. Needless to say, when Integral found Derivative, still in his classroom, aft firmly stuck to his chair, Integral laughed so hard, the nearby classes, both teachers and students alike, came over to see what was going on. To this day, Derivative didn't allow any arts and crafts in his classroom.

Bluestreak filled a vial with it and placed it in his subspace next to the tubing.

"Copper powder." He poured it into a smaller container from the larger storage container that sat on the shelf next to the other metal powders.

An explosion went off and Bluestreak found himself looking up to the ceiling as his doorwing sensors picked up the vibrations.

"What the? Experiment day isn't until tomorrow." Bluestreak automatically adjusted his doorwings to a better position to catch the sounds and vibrations coming from upstairs.

Was that… gunfire?

Weapons weren't allowed on the academy grounds and from what he could tell, none of the alarms were going off. Even the alarm for an experiment gone wrong wasn't going off.

Curious, but alert, Bluestreak quietly headed over to the stairs, desperately wanting to know what was going on.

He could now pick up the sounds of pleading voices and crying students.

Click.

Bang.

Thud.

Once he got to the base of the stairs, he met the optics of the librarian who he had been helping out for the last semester at the top of the stairs.

"What's down there?" A deep voice questioned.

Datafile's doorwings flared out in a protective manner. "It's a storage room filled with priceless classics. It's completely boring for those not interested in reading as a hobby."

Click.

"What are you hiding?" The voice repeated.

"I have nothing to hide." Datafile calmly replied. "Those classics have been in my possession since my first day here just as the librarian before me."

Bang.

Datafile stiffened before collapsing to the ground in a tangled heap of black and white armor.

"I don't like liars." The bot growled, a patch of purple glinting off his chassis as he kicked the librarian's frame down the stairs, hitting the steps with a loud thud before sliding down to where Bluestreak stood. "You." He pointed his gun at the much smaller first year, Starpainter. "What's down there?"

The black and yellow Praxian fidgeted, tears welling up and spilling onto her faceplate, "It's a storage room. There's a lot of dusty datapads and various supplies, mainly for the science department because they accidently ordered too many supplies and we didn't know where else to put them."

Click.

"Is anyone else down there?"

Yellow doorwings quivered as the young femme gulped, looking at the gun pointed straight at her. "I showed up about two breems ago."

"Please don't shoot." A dark green third year student pleaded. "She's my little sister. She doesn't know anything. I'll take you down there myself."

Another mech laughed an eerie laugh. "Why should we let any of you go? Orders are orders, Praxus is coming down with all of the Praxians in it."

Bang.

The mech who was going to kill Starpainter gasped, dropping the gun before falling to the ground, shock still clearly visible on his faceplate even in death. A large maroon praxian held his weapon steady as he took careful aim at the other armed bot.

The dark green femme, Starstorm, all but tackled her younger sibling into a tight embrace, wanting to protect Starpainter to the best of her abilities.

Click.

Bang.

"Pastprotector?" Starstorm questioned with wide optics, all but pressing Starpainter into her chassis.

"I was on my break when I heard a commotion. Where's Datafile?"

Starstorm gestured with her doorwings to the stairs.

"Check the rest of the library and see if there's anyone else here. If you see a Decepticon, hide." Pastprotector advised, "As you just saw, they're not here for education."

Bluestreak watched as Pastprotector made his way to Datafile. Maroon doorwings trembled in both anger and fear. Crouching down, Pastprotector turned Datafile over, exposing the gaping hole in the other praxian's chassis.

"Is he dead?" Bluestreak questioned.

Pastprotector stayed silent, not wanting to admit the truth. It was a well-known fact that the two had intended on bonding at the end of the decacycle.

"Praxus is neutral. They shouldn't be here." Pastprotector pressed his lips against Datafile's in a last farewell. "Bluestreak, is there anyone else down here with you?"

"No."

"As much as it would be a good idea to barricade ourselves down here, we'll run out of energon and be trapped. We need to get out of the academy." Pastprotector reached out to Bluestreak, grabbing the smaller mech's hand.

"Why do you have a gun if you're a librarian?" Bluestreak questioned as they entered the main part of the library.

"In case of emergencies." He stripped the weapons from the two dead Decepticons, putting most of it into his subspace. "Do you know how to use this?" Pastprotector presented Bluestreak with a rifle.

"I've never used a weapon before and we're not supposed to have them on the academy grounds."

Pastprotector huffed in slight annoyance. "Bluestreak, Praxus is now in the middle of a war. We need to do what we must to survive."

Bluestreak watched intently as Pastprotector quickly and efficiently went over the basics of that particular rifle before handing it over along with ammunition.

"Bluestreak, you're alive?" Airstream had a surprised look on his faceplate.

"So far." Bluestreak muttered, looking directly at Silverstreak who lay next to his favorite datafile selection, energon pooling onto the once pristine floor. Bluestreak fought back the tears as he continued to stare at his best friend of which he had known since he was barely a vorn old.

Starpainter escaped from Starstorm's vice-like grip and ran up to Bluestreak, pulling him into a tight embrace. "I had a feeling you'd still be alive! When your birthday comes up, Starstorm and I will make you your favorite energon goodies. Don't leave us. We'll be one big family, even if we're not related. Everything will…" Starpainter sniffed, "be back to normal. The scary bots will be gone."

Bluestreak hugged back, doorwings flickering in distress as he choked back a sob.

"We need to be careful. No yelling, stay quiet. We have the upper hand as so long as we stay calm and stick together." Pastprotector passed out the weapons he obtained only moments before. "Pay close attention to the input gathered by your doorwings."

The students nodded in understanding. Pastprotector was about to start the trek when he realized that he first needed to teach them how to properly use their weapons.

* * *

Smokescreen and Sky were helping Cloudwatcher out of the Counseling Department and to the waiting enforcers who were escorting civilians to a heavy duty transport enforcer in his vehicle form who was patiently waiting as they were loaded in his trailer.

"Wideload, can you take a few more?" An enforcer questioned the semi-truck.

Wideload pulled forward just a tad to check, startling those who were already inside in the process, "Two more, then I'll need to get moving."

The much smaller enforcer waved down Smokescreen, Sky and Cloudwatcher. "We can take two more. Who's going to stay with us for now?"

"I'll stay." Smokescreen volunteered. "Sky, you should stay with your creator. Now isn't the time to get separated."

Making sure that Cloudwatcher wasn't going to fall, Sky let go of his creator and pulled Smokescreen into a hug. "Be safe." Sky quickly kissed Smokescreen, catching the praxian completely off guard, "And now you have a reason to find me."

Smokescreen blinked at Sky, remembering the feel of the other praxian against his lips, "I thought you had a thing for the medic, Redwing."

Sky let out a small chuckle, "Redwing's my cousin. Of course we're close."

Smokescreen suddenly felt stupid. "Oh."

He watched as the two got in Wideload's trailer before the enforcer pulled away.

"Don't worry about them." The enforcer stood beside Smokescreen, weapon armed and ready for a moment's notice, "It requires a lot to take Wideload down. Designation's Safeway."

"Smokescreen." The therapist watched the seekers move about in the distance. "Why's the school district so quiet?"

Safeway's optics widened at Smokescreen's innocent question. :_ Soundsystem, why's it so quiet at the school district? Did the alarms there go off? Soundsystem? Are you there? Soundsystem?_ : With a panicked look on his faceplate, Safeway turned to Smokescreen, "Stay out of danger and Softped will notify you when the next transport is here."

"What's going on?"

"It's nothing." Safeway forced a grin, "Everything's fine."

It was then Smokescreen realized things were worse than it appeared.

* * *

"Beatdown, Stoplight, how are you on ammo?"

"My gun jammed up." Beatdown solemnly admitted, "And I'm out of ammo for my other weapons."

"Here, have mine." Stoplight handed over his fully loaded gun before pulling his sniper rifle out of his subspace. "I'm doing fine."

"Any injuries?" Prowl questioned, using their small break as an opportunity to reload his own rifle.

"No." Both replied simultaneously.

Prowl let out a small sigh of relief. So far, so good. Now the next step was to get the leader of Praxus and his staff out of the building and to safety.

The three silently slipped into the building, doorwings rigid and weapons ready to fire, and headed down the poorly lit hallway. The lights flickered and some were out completely. Broken glass and fractured metal littered the floor.

The three jumped when Stoplight accidently kicked something.

Shining a light at it, Stoplight shuddered at the sight of a detached arm. On further inspection of hall just about to the room where they were to meet the command staff of Praxus had more limbs haphazardly laying around. Energon pooled at the opening of a broken door and there were clear marks of pedes and hands from the area. It looked as if someone had been dragged through the puddle and had tried to grab ahold of something as they were pulled further down the hallway.

The trio carefully entered the door. A sharp beeping sound had the three recoiling back into the hallway. Their leader, Clearview, was covered in energon, chassis broken open enough to reveal his spark that dimly lit the room as he was strapped down to a chair with an explosive strapped to his abdomen.

"Clearview!" Prowl called out, optics catching sight of the timer that sat on the table next to the severed head of Clearview's secretary.

Optics lit up ever so slightly, "P-Prowl? They came out of nowhere."

"We'll get you out of here." Prowl took a step into the room, an optic crunching under his ped as the timer beeped merrily on.

"It's no… use. You're in command now. Get out of here before… before it explodes."

"Sir-" Prowl was abruptly cut off.

"Get out of here." His spark flickered, "The Autobots… Get them to help. Do whatever it takes. We can't survive without them."

"I know." Prowl replied. He looked over the scene once more before retreating, Stoplight and Beatdown not far behind as they raced out of the building.

* * *

"I've never heard the academy this quiet with the exception of that one time Windracer and I came here because he had to turn in his homework during a holiday." Airstream mused as they made their way down a hallway covered with lifeless frames of their peers.

"Decepticon." Pastprotector whispered to the others as a warning.

"Leave him alone!" A voice commanded right before a heavy thud was heard. A helm poked out into the hallway before the figure reappeared while dragging an unconscious Decepticon by the ped into the hallway and straight into the science department.

"Lasersight, what are you doing?" Pastprotector startled the health teacher so much that she dropped the ped with a loud clang.

"Oh thank Primus it's just you." Lasersight sighed, "I'm bringing the troublemaker to Radiowave and Lightwave. Last I heard, they wanted someone to test their new batch of energon." She blinked, a blank look appearing on her faceplate when she realized Pastprotector had students with him. "It's not high grade, if that's what you're thinking."

"Then what is it?" Pastprotector paused before skeptically suggesting, "An elixir that can bring bots back from the dead?"

"You'll have to ask them yourself." With that, Lasersight picked up the ped and gave a sharp tug as she started to drag the Decepticon to the two other teachers.

"Is she crazy?" Bluestreak asked Pastprotector as calmly as he could. "She wasn't like this a few joors ago."

"Her bondmate is Cyberlink." Pastprotector replied, "She might be dealing with a broken bond."

The students gave each other worried looks before Starpainter spoke the one thing that hadn't sunk in, "They're bonded?"

Pastprotector ushered them into the room Lasersight had just left and quietly shut the door behind them. With any luck, the stock of energon would still be intact.

"Radiowave and Lightwave are dead." A voice mumbled from the corner, one of his doorwings barely holding onto his frame as the broken wires in his arm gave an occasional spark. "The students are too. I saw them myself. Tried to do the best I could to stop them, but look what happened. I had to play dead to survive and luckily Lasersight found me after they left."

"Where are they now?"

"Lasersight's been knocking them out and dragging them to the science department where she's been tying them up and claiming they're in detention for what they've done." Sledpuller explained with a tired look on his faceplate. "They work fast, but she's been working faster. Language department is in ruins. Bombs went off just a little while ago. They then split up and have been combing through the departments."

"Can you move?"

"Not without help. My leg broke when the ceiling fell on it." He weakly laughed, "Without a medic, I'm a goner. Lasersight can't think straight enough to repair me." With his undamaged arm, he tapped on his shoulder. "I have internal ruptures in my energon lines. It's pointless to take me with you, I'll just slow you down."

Pastprotector gave Sledpuller a skeptical look, "Nonsense. You're lighter than Datafile. I'll carry you. Is there any energon in here?"

"Gyro took it with him when he went to physics department. He said something about working on a lot of damaged bots. Gyro might even still be alive. Slag, you surprised me. I was beginning to think that other than Lasersight, I was surrounded by Decepticons."

Pastprotector crouched next to Sledpuller before picking the physical education teacher up and draping him over his shoulder. "Don't mess with my doorwings or I will drop you."

"You're a lot stronger than you look." Sledpuller mused, "No wonder Datafile bragged so much. Speaking of Datafile, where is he?"

"He's dead." Bluestreak murmured.

"Oh." Sledpuller remained silent as the group left the room and began down the hallway. "Sorry to hear about that. If I can do anything… Just let me know."

"Stop talking about him." Pastprotector solemnly requested, "I convinced myself that he's safe at home."

Sledpuller patted Pastprotector on the back with his good hand. "Very well."

* * *

: _This is Prowl, Enforcer Chief of Praxus, requesting assistance. Decepticons are attacking and have Praxus surrounded._ :

: _Message received, my main mech._ : Blaster replied, sending the message along to Sentinel Prime and establishing a comm line between the two.

: _Sentinel Prime, leader of the Autobots._ :

There was a sigh of relief before the enforcer spoke. : _We need all the help we can get._ :

: _Why should we help you?_ :

: _Sir, we're outnumbered. 60% of the enforcers have already been deactivated. My calculations show that if we don't get help in the next two joors, the city will be nothing but ruins. If you help, Praxus will join the Autobots._ :

: _You can't promise me that_. :

: _Clearview is dead. I'm now in charge. I swear upon my spark we will join as so long as the Autobots provide significant assistance_. :

: _Very well._ : Sentinel paused, considering which sections of his army to send. : _We're on our way_. :

Prowl slid to the ground in a tired mass of black and white armor, scrapping his doorwings on a wall in the process, but he couldn't find himself to care.

Blastzone had confirmed that Soundsystem had been deactivated while he worked. Holdup notified him only moments ago that Broadcast didn't even make it to his station. The two major individuals involved in the alarm system and communication system were now out of the picture.

There had to be at least one individual who knew the security system and those involved in it like the back of their hand. The precautions that Prowl had so meticulously put into place over the vorns was falling apart before his very optics and he found himself able to do very little about it.

"Prowl," Beatdown repeated, "What now?"

"Hm?" He looked up at Beatdown with a dazed look, "Where's Stoplight?"

Beatdown gave him a worried look, "He was deactivated when the 'cons saw us running out of the city hall. Luckily Barricade and his group heard the gunfire and took them out."

"Where did they go?"

"They're _convincing_ the medbots to leave the medbay." Beatdown smirked, "At least they're a constant. Ever since I was little, they didn't like evacuating, even for practice drills."

"Highrise and her group got the housing sector evacuated and Spikestrip and his group evacuated the business sector." Prowl started, "LIghtwing and her trine were shot out of the sky. Airglider, Solarflare and their groups are where?"

Beatdown bit his lip, "In the east sector trying to take out the air carriers to stop them from dropping more bombs."

Prowl's mind cleared as his battle computer took over. "Wrong. The air carriers are in the southern sector. Blastzone is in the east sector while Skyscraper went to help in the south sector. However, half of Skyscraper's group have been deactivated. Blastzone's group is still intact."

Beatdown offered Prowl his hand to help him up. Prowl took the offer without an ounce of hesitation.

"We're going to the western sector and take out as many Decepticons as we can until the Autobots come. In the process, we'll be able to divert the attention from the evacuation efforts."

* * *

"Safeway, what's going on?" Smokescreen followed the smaller mech around, tiptoeing around the deactivated so that he didn't accidently step on them.

"We're moving to the medical facilities to help get the medics and patients out, our transport carriers are headed there as we speak."

"What do I do if we run into Decepticons?"

Safeway looked at him with a sad expression on his faceplate, "It's not _if_, it's _when_." He handed Smokescreen a weapon. "Do you know how to use it?"

Smokescreen looked down at it before meeting the optics of the enforcer, "Yes."

* * *

Careful.

Steady.

Aim.

Fire.

A pair of Decepticons went down.

Prowl gave the signal and the duo proceeded.

Both sets of doorwings twitched as they picked up the pedsteps of Decepticons. Prowl grabbed Beatdown's hand and pulled the other mech with him around the building.

"Praxians over there!" A Decepticon screeched, "Enforcers!"

Beatdown pulled a grenade out of his subspace. The bulkier enforcer slid pass Prowl and into the street in order to throw it at the Decepticons before ducking back into the relatively safer space.

BOOM.

Prowl poked his helm into the main part of the street. "Clear."

"Blastzone said there was a cluster of Decepticons at the energon refineries, taking as much energon as they can. If we can start an explosion in there, the entire area will be destroyed along with the Decepticons. It'll cause enough damage to gather the attention of the remaining Decepticons."

"What will we do once we have their attention?"

"Hope the Autobots show up soon and hold our own until then. Blastzone and his group are on their way there as well so they'll help set up the explosion."

"Good, we'll need all the help we can get for a fragging crazy stunt like that." Beatdown chuckled, "Only you would turn one of our biggest resources into the largest distraction to date."

"Even if we manage to push the Decepticons back, Praxus has taken too much damage. I doubt we'll be able to stay in the city. It will be best to move the survivors to a safer location."

Beatdown grumbled his approval.

* * *

Bluestreak's servo trembled as he pulled the trigger for the first time, killing his target with amazing accuracy.

He wondered who the 'con was, was did they do for a living, did they have any family, a bondmate perhaps? Bluestreak was about to feel sorry for killing the mech only to remember what they did to his friends, his family and overall the city.

Without hesitation, he fired at the next Decepticon.

Bluestreak could almost hear Silverstreak talking about a datafile he had read the night before when he aimed and fired at another Decepticon.

He should have dragged Silverstreak down into the basement to help him with supplies instead of letting the mech shift through datafiles in the main library.

'_When I grow up, I want to become a librarian that way I can have an excuse for reading all of the datafiles in this library and the others in Praxus as well. My creators won't be able to push me to go outside like they always do, but of course, I still want to spend time with you.' Silverstreak grinned, 'You're the best friend in all of Praxus. You understand me and don't mock me for who I am and what I want to do.'_

Bang.

'_These datafiles are my life. Someone needs to be there to make sure that they're not damaged and are returned to their proper place that way others can find and read them as well. This is why I don't mind working longer hours than I'm supposed to for even if it bothers Pastprotector that I'm not spending as much time with him at home as he'd like.' Datafile smirked, 'If he wants to spend time with me, he knows that he can help me in the library and we'll finish sooner.'_

Bang.

_Derivative stood in front of the class, faceplate impassive as he tried to ignore the fact that Integral had snuck into his class when he had been writing on the board even though the students around her were snickering at her jokes. 'Before you can do calculus, what must you first know?'_

'_Math?'_

'_Cybertronian?'_

'_Where your class is?'_

'_Pick me!' Integral squirmed in her borrowed desk._

'_Yes, Integral?'_

'_How to read and understand the problem you're given.' She said with a grin._

'_That too, but I was thinking algebra.' Derivative turned around to write more on the board, 'This is why the math department requires students to know and practice algebra. To do the complex, you must first understand the foundations of that particular subject.'_

Bang.

'_There's a difference in an object being thrown down and dropped.' Pendulum paused to make sure he had the full attention of the physics class, 'In the assignment for this week, many of the problems say an item of some sort, such as a wrench, is dropped. The difference between thrown and dropped is that someone puts energy into the object so its initial velocity has a value. When an item is dropped, its initial velocity is zero because it isn't thrown. Someone simply… let go.'_

Bang.

_Timeset tossed a ball into the air before catching it with one hand, 'Today is the last time you'll have this class before the break, and so I figured we might as well do something a bit more fun. Who's in the mood for some dodge ball?' She was greeted by cheers. 'Line up and I'll separate you into two teams.'_

Bang.

Bluestreak rejoined the group before they made the first, cautious step out of the school district.

* * *

"Frag it, medics! The city is under attack and we need to get you to safety." Barricade growled, "How can you help if you're crushed and slaughtered in your own medbay?"

Timestop crossed his arms, "The medbay has been the safest location of all of Praxus for vorns. The security here is the best with the exception of the enforcer station."

"Not anymore. Look, security is down everywhere and it's not safe to bring patients here for much longer."

"Then that's too bad because we're not leaving. All of our supplies and equipment are here."

Barricade twitched in agitation, upon getting the signal from one of his teammates, he knew his time was just about up. "The Decepticons are going to be here in less than ten breems. So unless you want to get shot, we're leaving."

"But-" Rivet protested.

"Now." Barricade growled.

"If we don't?" Silverbell hesitantly questioned.

Click.

Barricade glared at the cluster of stubborn medics, "One way or the other, you _will_ be shot if you refuse to leave."

Dawn and Dusk quickly grabbed their medkits.

The others were more hesitant, but once Barricade aimed at Timestop's faceplate, they grabbed their things and headed out of the medbay without much further ado.

* * *

Smokescreen watched the medics scurry out of the medbay and into the enforcer transports. He gulped at the sight of a wave of Decepticons heading in the same direction.

"What are we doing here?" Smokescreen questioned Safeway.

"We're going to hold the Decepticons back for as long as possible to give the medics enough time to get to safety. You can stay with us or you can join Barricade in the escort. It's up to you, but you need to make up your mind now."

Smokescreen gulped, knowing that if the Decepticons weren't stopped, there was a high possibility that they were going to find where the civilians had been moved to and kill them all. The more help the enforcers had, the higher the probability that the others were going to survive.

His grip tightened around his weapon, "I'll stay."

"Follow me." Safeway led him onto a crumbled building with the other enforcers who had already gotten into position. "Primus help us."

Smokescreen crouched down and was waiting for the Decepticons to get closer when he came up with a plan. If they managed to take down three, still standing buildings at the right time, they could kill a large portion of this wave and increase their odds. He scrambled up to his pedes and rushed to Safeway to tell him his plan.

Safeway's optics brightened, "Great idea. I'll send the request to Skyscraper."

"Skyscraper?" Smokescreen questioned, having never heard that designation before.

"Skyscraper and Blastzone are in charge of the enforcer bomb squad. Skyscraper and a few of his teammates are lingering in the area." Safeway connected to the enforcer comm. : _Skyscraper, what's your location?_ :

: _We're setting up surprises at the medbay. You got a request?_ : Skyscraper replied.

: _We need you to bring down the buildings on the corners of Main Street and 7__th__, 9__th__ and 10__th__ on my signal. _:

Skyscraper whistled. : _Those are some very sturdy buildings, but like everything that goes up, they'll come down._ :

Smokescreen noticed four enforcers race out of the medbay and straight to the mentioned buildings. He fidgeted as he watched the 'cons come closer, but before too long, the team came racing out and up to where the waiting enforcers were.

Safeway greeted them before the bomb squad pulled out their weapons in order to join them.

The four were bulky individuals, displaying the customary black and white paint and decals of the Praxus Enforcers.

"You're not an enforcer." Skyscraper pointed out as he sat next to Smokescreen. "What are you doing here?"

"They didn't have enough room at the time and they needed as much help as possible. It was my suggestion to set explosives on those buildings."

"Good idea." Skyscraper hummed, "They won't know what hit them."

"Is there a reason why the members of the bomb squad are so bulky or is it a coincident?"

Skyscraper chuckled, "Observant unlike many we deal with. Due to the risk involved with our job, Prowl suggested that we get extra armor in case if we get caught in an explosion or a building comes down on top of us. We usually take off the extra armor when we're not on duty though it's tricky to get the doorwing armor on and off by yourself."

"I'd imagine. Can you sense anything with your doorwings with that much armor on them?"

"Yes and no." Skyscraper paused, "I can increase the sensitivity of my doorwing sensors to feel roughly the same as if the armor isn't on, but we usually turn the majority of the sensors off when working with explosives in case if something happens. It's not like it'll hurt very much unless it's an unusually strong bomb, but it's still enough to make you jump. I'd rather not jump when doing delicate work."

"Do you like having Prowl as a leader?"

"Yes. He's an intelligent, level headed mech. Prowl comes up with a lot of good ideas and when he's not busy, it's enjoyable talking with him." Skyscraper put his hand on Smokescreen's back, "He's got a plan for just about anything under the sky. He even came up with the plans we've been working off since this mess started. If you ever have the chance to talk to him, first tell him I think you're an intelligent mech, not one prone to trouble."

Smokescreen raised an optic bridge. "Ok… What happened to the rest of the bomb squad?"

Skyscraper sighed, removing his hand from Smokescreen as he fiddled with his weapon, "Blastzone and I each have leadership of half of the bomb squad. Last I heard, he lost two members while I lost six."

"How'd you lose so many? I thought with all of the extra armor, it'd take a lot to kill you." Smokescreen questioned.

"Don't get me wrong, it does." He pointed out the many dents and worn spots in the armor from getting shot. "Our groups were working together when the Decepticons decided to drop a seven level parts factory on us. It took a while for us to get out. Three had been impaled by support beams and shrapnel. One took heavy fire while trying to rescue a mech who got stuck. Both died." Skyscraper let out a heavy sigh, "Another died after falling off a bridge and into the middle of a group of Decepticon frontliners. They got ahold of him and pulled him apart. The last was picked up by a fragging crazy Decepticon helicopter with the help of a cable that had a hook on the end, was swung around until she threw up, smashed into buildings and then dropped into a smelter."

Smokescreen grimaced.

"We may be durable, but we're not indestructible. We didn't want to get involved in this war, but there's nothing we can do about that. Clearview deactivated along with a large portion of the enforcers. Prowl's leader of Praxus until things settle down, assuming we survive."

"Is there any hope?" Smokescreen questioned, "Our odds aren't very high."

"Prowl's gonna pull us through despite what's going on and even if he's the last survivor, he'll make the Decepticons pay for what they've done to Praxus. He contacted the Autobots and came up with an agreement, so they're on their way. If we can hold the 'cons off long enough, the Autobots will take it from there."

"You have a lot of confidence in Prowl."

Skyscraper grinned, "If you knew him like the enforcers do, you'd trust him with your spark, no questions asked. Things may go sour from time to time, but overall, he'll make matters better. Why do you think Praxus and the safety of this city has become so renown? Both sides of this fragging stupid war have been trying to convince Praxus to join their side because of bots like Prowl who work so hard to improve what we have and get us working at maximum efficiency while still respecting our wishes. I'd do anything for our chief and I'd bet you each and every enforcer would do the same."

"They're coming." Smokescreen pointed out.

Skyscraper nodded, "Good luck. Brace yourselves!"

Skyscraper clicked a button and a chain of explosions took down all three buildings which crumpled down, crushing many of the advancing Decepticons and throwing their organization into disarray.

* * *

"Airstream, you always know where Windracer is." Bluestreak started.

"And he always knows where I am." Airstream proudly declared.

"Where is he?" Bluestreak questioned, "I figured you would have said something if he was still on the school grounds."

Airstream smiled an obviously fake smile, "He's not hurting anymore."

Starstorm frowned, having come closer to the two in order to be involved in the conversation, "Then where is he?"

"He was in Azul's class when the first bombs went off. He was small, but fast." Airstream held back the tears, "Windracer almost made it out of the class when the ceiling caved in on top of them. I noticed his doorwing when I went looking for him, so I tried to get him out, but he was already dead. I ran away when I saw the Decepticons coming and ended up in the library."

"Quiet down." Pastprotector whispered, "We're nearing the safe point. Bluestreak, scout ahead."

Sledpuller grabbed onto Pastprotector's doorwing with his good hand and gave it a sharp tug, "Decepticons."

Pastprotector spun around in time to see a grenade roll near them. Without a second thought, he quickly kicked it back and yelled to the others, "Get down!"

BOOM.

It was then that a group of Enforcers came along with an enforcer transport who quickly got between the two groups.

"Get in!" Wideload commanded as his trailer door opened.

The group quickly got in to be greeted by a cluster of medics. The door closed and Wideload started moving again even though the sounds of gunfire seemed to be coming from every direction but below.

A bright red medic poked at Sledpuller while the others took a look at the other newcomers. "I'm Redwing. Please put the injured mech down so I can get a good look at him."

Pastprotector put Sledpuller down and propped him up against one of the sides of the trailer.

Redwing worked through all of the bumps, twists and turns until she gave a sigh of relief. "He's going to make it, but we're going to need to get some replacement parts."

At last the sounds of battle died away and the drive turned into a smooth one before Wideload came to a stop and reopened the door to the trailer. "We've made it in one piece now get out."

As soon as the last passenger got out, Wideload transformed, detaching himself from the trailer in the process before stretching out.

"What now?" Barricade questioned the much larger mech.

"Barricade, Highrise, Uturn, Holdup and their groups need to stay here to protect the civilians. Tracker, Spikestrip and Solarflare are to guard the entrance and warn the others of any Decepticon movement. If this happens, we need to pull the enforcers to the threat. Encryption and Codemaker will try to break into Decepticon communications."

* * *

: _Wideload, if I don't make it, you're in charge of both the enforcers and Praxus._ :

: _Prowl, what are you doing? We need you. The _Autobots_ need you. _:

: _We're doing what is necessary to ensure the survival of our civilians._ :

Prowl nodded to Blastzone who gleefully pressed the trigger, "For Praxus."

KABOOOOOOMMM

Metal of all colors flew in every direction in a brilliant display as the very ground shook from the sheer amount of energy given off all at once. To those fond of explosions, it was considered to be best and most beautiful explosion and along with being the record holder for the largest and most damaging for many vorns to come.

The surviving Decepticons scattered in fear, thus becoming easy picking for the waiting group of enforcers. However, the turn of luck would only last for so long for they knew more Decepticons were on their way.

* * *

Bluestreak was perched on a ledge inside of the safe area with his rifle at the ready as he watched the movements of everyone else. From what he saw, the overwhelming majority were unarmed civilians.

His friends were getting energon while Bluestreak refused to refuel. Someone needed to keep watch and even though his energy levels were getting low, he didn't want to abandon his spot.

Pastprotector was assisting the construction crews and other civilians in clearing out the boulders that blocked the cave to the tunnel network so that as a whole, they could get as far away from Praxus as possible. So far, they were safe, but there were many who weren't comfortable about sitting in one spot, trapped if the Decepticons manage to get pass the enforcers.

He had a bad feeling about the whole situation, but there wasn't much he could do about it so he decided to ignore it and keep watch.

The enforcers said that when they last heard from the Autobots, they were on their way to help them, but the estimated arrival time was over a joor ago.

Reports he overheard weren't good.

The group holding the Decepticons back at the medbay had been pushed back and have been silent over the enforcer comm line ever since.

Encryption and Codemaker had finally broken into the Decepticon comm lines and had the conversations playing softly on with a small speaker that Bluestreak had settled near.

From what the Decepticons were saying, groups of enforcers that were scattered about Praxus were being systematically wiped out, though the enforcers managed to kill just as many if not more than the Decepticons in the process.

One enforcer had his doorwings pulled off, but still managed to shoot a Decepticon frontliner in the faceplate before the other Decepticons removed the enforcer's limbs. The enforcer slowly bleed to death.

It made Bluestreak shudder to think what they'd do to the unarmed civilians if the Decepticons somehow got to them.

Then there were the reports on a specific enforcer from both the enforcers and the Decepticons. By the sounds of it, this… Prowl, was a very important and very skilled mech.

Some Decepticon officers wanted to capture Prowl alive and convince him to join them while others were frustrated by how many Decepticons Prowl and his group had managed to kill after the factory explosion. A lot of enforcers were cheering when they heard about what Prowl did while Wideload was frustrated that Prowl refused to come to the safe area with the insistence that he could do more to protect the Praxians out there, in the middle of the war.

Bluestreak jumped at the sudden sound of gunfire. He had been watching the entire time, but the Decepticons came from an unexpected area.

The tunnels which had just been opened up.

How did the Decepticons know exactly which tunnels to go into and follow to get to their exact location?

Someone must have told them.

"Decepticons!" Wideload yelled, "Civilians, get to the city!"

:_ The safe zone is under attack from the tunnels. Assistance greatly needed!_ :

The enforcers quickly got into position. Some worked to evacuate the civilians out of the safe zone while others did their best to hold back the Decepticons.

Bluestreak watched from his ledge in horror as Praxians of all ages fell to the ground, frames growing cold as they landed on each other, energon painting the one clean area pink. There was so much energon flowing, it was as if an ocean of energon was making its way out of the safe zone in rough, turbulent waves.

As Bluestreak shot at Decepticons, he muttered softly, "Where are the Autobots?"

* * *

"Sentinel Prime, what the frag are you doing?!" Ratchet bellowed, "Innocent lives are being taken and you're taking your sweet time getting to Praxus!"

"The longer they have to wait, the more thankful they'll be when we do help." Sentinel calmly replied.

"Ratchet has a point." Blaster pitched in, "The Autobots were supposed to get to Praxus over a joor ago and based on Prowl's calculations at the time, most of the enforcers are going to be dead by now."

"The best will remain alive." Sentinel stated, "And the less resources we'll have to waste."

Ratchet punched Sentinel before hissing, "I hope you rust in the pits you good for nothing slagger."

Sentinel narrowed his optics at Ratchet, "You'll pay for this."

"The Praxians already have." Ratchet growled, "Blaster, tell the troops to move faster. Ironhide, come with me."

* * *

Prowl staggered away from the last fight.

Alone.

He was the last of the enforcers in his group.

No one was responding to his desperate messages on the enforcer comm line.

Prowl was the last Praxian.

He was losing feeling, both emotional and physical.

His battle computer was the only thing keeping him going forward, moving to where his sluggish calculations showed a group of Autobots should be.

The sensory input from his doorwings had long ceased and he couldn't even move them if he wanted to, so they hung limp and useless. He had numerous messages about injuries that he didn't want to go over and if he didn't get help soon, he too would fall.

Praxus had fallen.

The Praxians had fallen after much maneuvering and fighting.

The odds weren't in their favor and yet they still managed to kill three times as many Decepticons than there had been enforcers.

As he dragged his rifle behind him, Prowl wondered what it would be like in the well.

Did it even exist?

Would he be welcome there?

Prowl found himself face to face with a group of Autobots, a medic being present as he muttered what Prowl figured was going to be his last words. "You're too late."

Ratchet hurried to Prowl's side, wiping off energon from his chassis to reveal his enforcer decals along with the mark that showed he was the enforcer chief.

Ratchet spoke over the Autobot comm line as he got to work on the enforcer. : _We found Prowl._ :

* * *

Smokescreen woke up with the notifications of numerous shrapnel damages. Other than that, he appeared to be functioning normally.

He tried sitting up only to realize he couldn't.

"Skyscraper?" Smokescreen questioned, "Skyscraper, I need you to get up. I can't get up with you laying on me."

He examined Skyscraper only to realize the mech was dead.

"Frag." Smokescreen sighed.

Smokescreen laid there for what felt like joors when he heard movement nearby. Even though he wasn't sure of the allegiance, he decided to take a chance because he really didn't want to offline like this. "Hey! Hey you! I need some help here!"

"Hacksaw, over there." A voice grumbled.

A feeling of dread washed over Smokescreen. With a name like Hacksaw, Smokescreen had a feeling that he would be better off dying from starvation.

"One… two…. three." The weight pressing Smokescreen down was suddenly removed.

Clang.

Smokescreen sat up and was greeted with friendly Autobot faces.

* * *

"This ain't good." Blaster complained, "If we got here sooner, we might have rescued more Praxians. Come on, out of a city we got two, _two_ Praxians. That's just not right."

"The enforcer might not make it." Brace added in, "Ratchet's still working on him and it's getting dark soon so Sentinel might have us stop searching for the night."

"Decepticon." Mirage pointed out right before the Decepticon died.

The three gave each other uncertain looks before heading in the direction of the Decepticon. Mirage readied his weapon at the sight of two more right before they offlined, one after the other.

"What just happened?" Blaster questioned, confused.

Mirage suddenly noticed the gray Praxian laying on a ledge, doorwings twitching, as he pointed the mech out to the others "Praxian."

Blaster chuckled, "Look, he's happy to see us."

Mirage backed up slowly as the Praxian took aim at them, "He's a sniper and he's angry, not happy."

Brace gulped as he hid behind Mirage who turned invisible.

Blaster yelled as loud as he could with the hope that he could convince the Praxian not to shoot, "We're Autobots! We're here to help you!"

The praxian lowered his rifle and carefully watched them for a few breems before sliding down from his ledge and carefully coming closer.

* * *

"What is this place?" Smokescreen questioned as he and Bluestreak were led into a secret room underneath Iacon.

"Iacon was built on top of the ruins of an even older city that was said to have been around at the time of the Predicons." Hacksaw explained, "Not many know of its existence."

Bluestreak followed at a distance, not trusting the medic one bit. "What are we doing here?"

"Sentinel Prime believes this war is a small rebellion that will be destroyed, stamped out of existence if you will. Until that time, he wants to preserve the Praxian Culture until it can thrive once again."

Smokescreen's doorwings twitched in irritation, "You want us to hide out here and do nothing after what the Decepticons did to us?!"

"Exactly." Hacksaw paused, "I'm glad we're on the same page. We're going to put the three of you into a medical stasis until then. When you wake up, the war will be like a bad dream."

The three entered a main room, filled with machines and silent generators. Laying in one of the three capsules was a black and white praxian, enforcer decals proudly adorning his frame.

"Datafile!" Bluestreak rushed to the praxian's side, hands smacking against the crystal cover in a desperate attempt to get the praxian's attention.

Smokescreen stood beside Bluestreak, patting the younger mech on the back, "That's not your friend. It's Prowl, isn't it?"

Hacksaw grinned, "He found us and Ratchet repaired him. Prowl, like the two of you, won't wake up until we allow you to. These machines will regulate your frames and the stasis lock."

"If the generators go out?" Smokescreen questioned, an optic bridge raised.

"Then you'll wake up." Hacksaw answered, "Now I need you to pick an open capsule and lay down."

Smokescreen gently coaxed the younger praxian away from Prowl. "Come on, Bluestreak. You can be in the middle one."

* * *

Ratchet sat down at his desk in the Iacon medbay. He turned on the datapad only for his optics to narrow into ominous slits at the title of the report.

**The Fall of Praxus**

**On 07.29.3594 at the 10****th**** joor, Praxus time, the entire Decepticon army surrounded and attacked Praxus. Autobot spies report the Decepticons had inner connections with key civilians who leaked information about the safety measures put into place by Enforcer Chief Prowl in exchange for large sums of credits. Decepticon special ops agents infiltrated the city at approximately the 9****th**** joor and assassinated key members of the city in charge of important positions such as the head of security for the city. The army arrived a joor later. By the 11****th**** joor, Enforcer Chief Prowl contacted Iacon and spoke with Sentinel Prime to get assistance, claiming that Praxus leader Clearview had been deactivated and that Prowl had been named temporary leader and thus had the authority to negotiate an alliance between the Praxians and the Autobots. By time the Autobots arrived, Praxus had already fallen. None of the Praxians survived.**

Ratchet slammed the datapad onto his desk with enough force to cause it to crack.

He had been there and more importantly, he was the one who fully repaired Prowl. Prowl wasn't dead and last he checked, Smokescreen and Bluestreak survived as well. That report didn't contain some of the details such as the fact that Sentinel took his time getting to Praxus or that the Decepticons had slaughtered the Praxian civilians as they waited for the Autobots to show up.

At least half of the Praxian civilians would have survived if the Autobots arrived when they were supposed to. Granted most of the enforcers would have still died, but at least they would have had more than three survivors and now…

Ratchet was going to find out what happened to the survivors.

No one messed with his patients.

Not even the Prime.


End file.
